Chartres

It is so hot here, and most places aren’t air-conditioned. Between that and all the walking, we are so tired at the end of each day. And then we get back to our apartment and have to climb 100 narrow winding stairs to get there! So tonight, we ate an early dinner at 6:15. Our dinner-eating rhythm is very in sync with French (and Italian) rhythms, in that, if left to our own devices, we usually don’t eat dinner until around 8:00 or 8:30. But tonight, we ate early so that we could go on home and stay there and not have to climb 100 steps a second time late at night.

I anticipated that, with so much time in our apartment tonight, I would write a nice catch-up blog post, but instead, I read and fell asleep and woke up and did some drawing and now it’s 11:30pm. So. No long blog post. Instead, a tiny glimpse of what has been a very rich, full time in France so far.

We took the train down to Chartres yesterday, and though it was stiflingly hot outside, the cathedral was cool and dark in the best possible way. The stained glass, especially all the blue, was absolutely stunning.

The labyrinth in the floor is usually covered by chairs, but on Fridays from the beginning of Lent through All Saints Day, it is uncovered during the daytime and open for anyone to walk. That’s why we went on a Friday – so I could walk it. What a profound experience, to walk and pray my way around this ancient labyrinth, and then to find myself in the center of it with complete strangers. I feel so fortunate to have had this experience.

That’s just the tiniest peak of how we spent one of our afternoons here in France. I’m going to go to bed now, with all our windows wide open to try to get some cool air in here – I’m so grateful that even with all the street noise, we are sleeping so well here!